Oh yes. The final stretch and about 4 hours we would reach San Diego at around 10 o'clock at night. But not without the horrifying experience of reaching 3000 feet and a dangerously low tank of gas respectably on empty. Tensions were high....very high! And not without the standard border patrol stop. We finally! found a gas station somewhere on that impossibly brisk mountain top. Back down the mountain and through the lights of twinkling houses plopped throughout the hills. Hello there San Diego! And hello Kellie's new temporary apartment right by ocean beach! We were welcomed or perhaps we interrupted her friends staining trim. By this point we wanted to throw all of our bags down and just drop. To. The. Floor. But of course we didn't, the tired levels flipped to adrenaline and we might as well pop to the new neighboring hot spots as my time is very limited. I can't remember the exact name of the Irish bar we stopped in but I do remember running into my old neighbor and friend randomly! East coast to west it's still a small lil world.
View from Kellie's temporary yard.

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We awoke by cawking sounds of parrots..probably about a billion parrots...and jets from the naval base. It was a hazy morning so hazy you couldn't even see the jets zooming loudly in the sky. Now for ourselves to search for our own fuel in town. Finding parking was about as easy as finding parking in Carytown for a busy Saturday brunch time. We chose the most hopping place. So driving up and down a few blocks for a space allowed us to check out the views.

Still a bit dreary looking after brunch...
After brunch, why not head on over to.... IKEA! Ha! I love ikea, even if there is a location very close to Richmond,

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But wait. The sun rays burst the the clouds suddenly... As we approach...... IKEA! Ha! I love ikea, even if there is a close location to Richmond, I will never pass up the chance to an ikea, especially to help make a temporary home more cozy.

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A quick stop at the apartment to drop off the goods. I noticed a nice little shout out to Richmond's own Gwar on the grill in front!

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Sunny sunny San Diego, off to the beach.

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The beach location was beautiful! But to get there... We needed to troll down a noted dangerously steep cliff!

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I'll bounce around James River rocks all day, barefoot even, because I am used to those rocks, these rocks were pretty scary! It was so rewarding when this is where you'd be posting up!

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Very rewarding!

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It was a dog friendly beach. These pups were amazing and nuts!

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I love the Pacific Ocean. Love it. Wooo was that water cold! A couple hours of the beach and the unfortunate neglect of sunscreen we still had much to do, our goal was to see the seals in La Jolla. We missed them, or they didn't show.

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I can't imagine living on those hills, the houses were ridiculous and expensive looking.

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And we were starving. We did some more touristy things in search of dinner in Old Town, where they make their own tortillas in the window. So much in one day, we were insanely exhausted and we both needed to wake up around 4 in the morning to get to the airport for my send off.
(Before sunrise in San Diego)

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It was such a sad good bye. We were so tired after such a long trip. After all the tears before we left. The road took so much out of us. [I am still bummed I don't have my partner in crime, roll dog, best gal friend here in Richmond with me :( ] I was ready to be back home and terrified of not only my first flight in about 10 years, my first flight ever by myself.

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Thank goodness for five minutes of free in flight video. Thank you shark week.

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Bye bye California, hello in flight snacks.

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And funky weird circles which I later learned were irrigation systems... Not crop circles.

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And in flight doodling.

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The worst was the couple hour layover in La Guardia Airport in New Jersey... So close yet so far away!!

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It was an express flight to Richmond, in the teensiest plane I've ever been in, luckily I was in a singular row by the window.

After calling it an early night to start early mornings we said our goodbyes to Austin, with a coffee shop stop at Austin Java, a honey nut latte and a seven layer bar to go... The driving again commenced.

We were advised to keep a close eye on gas while driving through Texas and the remaining states as gas stations run scarce. Our first stop of the day we finally found our road trip totem: Peace Monkey. The perfect addition for any drive, really.

Along the way we saw a lot of... This.

And....

Very straight through roads but the mountains and hills were just out of this world. Not like driving north and south on I95. Glorious!

The clouds. The big open sky. Just beautiful.

A billion miles later and the next necessary gas station. In the middle of nowhere. Literally. We did our good deed of giving water and food to a homeless man.

Noted again, maps or google maps do not always provide the best of routes. The latter half of the drive was a bit back roady along the border and farm areas.

New Mexico was exciting for the opportunity to stay at a hotel. To actually shower.. And sleep in a comfortable pillow top bed for a night and a break.

Oh Ramada. You are too kind.

We popped over to Tokyo Sushi, to well... Get some "local" food and to fend off a craving.

I spied some lovely signage.

Of course I needed to capture a Wiener schnitzel!

Cable indulgence a well rested dreamland blur of New Mexico and onward! Checkout time was a very exceptional noon.

It was quite lovely to leave so refreshed for the last "bit" of the drive to San Diego.
A border patrol stop.

And you guessed it! More driving. With one of my favorite random stops at this roadside store.

Oh the amazing treasures inside...

These perfect moccasins!

Funds were dwindling, I needed to focus on more important luxuries like hydration.

Though I did splurge on two dream catchers, one for myself and one as a gift for my friend.

More desert and some doodling.

Desert and mountains and hidden towns.

Arizona!

More doodling.

And driving :) it was a a very quiet stretch. Too much to take in also the realization that the vacation was almost over.

We even saw a few dust storm formations.

By this point it was around dusk, pretty exhausted and still a ways to go til San Diego.